STATEMENT BY MR ANDREW WILLIAMS, ADVISER, NEW ZEALAND MISSION TO THE UNITED NATIONS TO THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY: SIXTH COMMITTEE ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE
6 October, 2008
(As delivered)
Mr Chairman,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The United Nations staff members and the Organization deserve a fair and efficient system of internal justice, which is consistent with international law and the principles of the rule of law and due process. In this respect, the United Nations must lead by example. CANZ continues to attach great importance to a system in which staff, management and Member States will have full confidence.
When we first began considering this item, CANZ stated that the current system was in need of fundamental reform, and that we all had a duty to implement that reform quickly. We were very pleased that the General Assembly, drawing on the Redesign Panel recommendations, decided in resolution 61/261 to establish a new, independent, transparent and professionalized system for the administration of justice.
We acknowledge the important work of the Ad Hoc Committee over the last year, and the progress on draft statutes for the United Nations Disputes Tribunal (UNDT) and the United Nations Appeal Tribunal (UNAT). CANZ has provided its views previously on different aspects of the draft Statutes and proposed new system, and will limit our comments to a couple of issues.
We note the broad agreement that the new system should apply to all staff members covered by the present system and see this as a useful starting point. An expanded scope of application should then be considered having properly assessed the implementation and operation of the new system, and also more closely examined the needs and situation of those currently outside the system.
CANZ also recognizes that a period of ineligibility for judges for subsequent appointments by the Secretary-General to judicial positions is important to maintain impartiality. However, in order to access a well-qualified pool of applicants, we support the ineligibility period being limited to three years.
As the implementation deadline of January 2009 is fast approaching, it is incumbent on us to reflect for a final time on the various legal-related aspects of the Statues and new system, and to provide close-to-finalized Statutes to the Fifth Committee as it considers an adequate funding and staffing base, and also transitional measures for the new system. We hope to maximize the progress of our Sixth Committee Working Group, as we believe the Committee is best placed to translate the intentions of Member States into the legal language of draft Statutes.
We appreciate that there are still challenging issues to resolve, but CANZ is willing to work constructively towards a consensus. We will be flexible though will keep in mind a guiding principle – that UN staff members should have access to a fair and efficient system of internal justice that is transparent, impartial and consistent with the rule of law and due process.
We look forward to working with colleagues towards the establishment of a functional system of UN internal justice in time for the proposed implementation deadline of January 2009.
Thank you, Mr Chairman.